Is Altruism Truly Achievable?

Altruism. For some, it seems like a perfect way to live one’s life. For others, it seems almost impossible.

Within society nowadays, instant gratification has never been easier. A post liked on instagram? Boom – happiness point 1. Quickly grabbing a brownie to eat? Boom – happiness point 2.

But is that happiness long lasting? Do we think about the purpose of the happiness and how we can try and sustain it? Of course, these thought provoking (yet rather heavy) ideas do rarely cross our minds on an everyday basis, but it is still important to discuss.

The happiness and concern of others is not something as simple and easily as gained as gaining those brownies or instagram likes. Pushing this idea further, if we were to be truly altruistic, we should not want to be selfless for that instant gratification.

You might be thinking, what the hell is this writer on about? I present this idea to you, dear reader.

See if you can do something selfless without thinking about it. Without thinking ‘this is something that will make me a good person’ or ‘this will make me feel really good about myself’. Perhaps we have been too focused on the instant and immediate responses of ‘good’ things, so that the long lasting impact of them goes unnoticed. One good act repeated for the sake of it simply good may be hard, but try it.

Who knows. Altruism is no means an easy matter, but a matter considering nonetheless.